II. Relationships between Plant Density and Crop Yield.

Figs. IA and I B by some data for fodder rape (Holliday, 1960a) and for

Wimmera ryegrass and subterranean clover (Donald, 195 l), all of which

are asymptotic to particularly high densities.

Holliday (1 960b) also suggested that those forms of yield which constituted a vegetative part of the crop conformed to an asymptotic relationship. Notable exceptions may occur (see Section II,A,2) but again

it is reasonable to assume that such forms of yield often are asymptotic.

This situation is illustrated by some data for potato tubers (Saunt, 1960)

and root yield of long beet (Warne, 1951) in Figs. 1C and 1 D, respectively.

2 . The Parabolic Relationship

Holliday (1960b) suggested that reproductive forms of yield (i.e.,

grains and seeds) conformed to a parabolic relationship, and the examples

;lk2oF

P

P

Total

-7%:

Y 10

Y

OO

5

1

2

3

OO

P

2

4

6

P

FIG. 1. Examples of the asymptotic yield/density relationship. (A) Total dry matter of

it is fitted to some maize data of Lang et al. ( 1 956); it is essentially a curve

which is symmetrical about a maximum value of yield. Although the degree of curvature may obviously vary, this basic shape offers little flexibility in fitting yield/density relationships. It is clearly not suitable for

fitting a truly asymptotic situation, and in a parabolic situation it is likely

to give a good fit only where the yield/density curve is reasonably symmetrical. But even in this latter situation, the accuracy of this equation is

probably restricted to a relatively narrow range of densities around the

point of maximum yield. This is because of the unrealistic implications

of the equation at both high and low densities. A t high densities it implies

that yield must drop sharply down to zero (see extrapolation in Fig. 4),

whereas at the other extreme it implies that a t zero density yield has a

value, a (which in practice may turn out to be either positive o r negative).

The former implication is a serious limitation on the use of this equation

at high densities. The latter implication could be only a minor disadvantage if the value of u was low; in any case, if an accurate fit at low

densities was particularly desirable, the omission of a from the equation

would ensure that the curve passed through the origin.

The disadvantage of the symmetrical nature of the quadratic curve was

avoided by Sharpe and Dent (1968) by using a square root form of

pol ymonial Eq. 2):

where a, b and c are constants, b being negative. This equation again

gives rise to a curve where yield rises to a maximum value and then decreases at higher densities, so it still cannot describe an asymptotic situation. Compared with the quadratic, however, it can follow a slightly more

gradual decline in yield at high densities, although this is accompanied by

a rather steeper increase at the low densities (see Fig. 4). It still implies

that a t zero density yield has a finite value a, and that at the other end of

the scale yield declines to zero, although admittedly at a rather higher

density than with the quadratic.

The apparent lack of any biological validity must also impose limits on

the use of these two equations. For example, it would seem unwise to

use them where data were not sufficiently comprehensive to give a good

initial indication of the general shape of any particular yield/density situation. Also there would seem little justification for using them to extrapolate data. Such extrapolation was carried out by Keller and Li ( 1949),

who used the quadratic to estimate optimum density and maximum yield

of some hop data, and it is of significance that when Wilcox ( 1 950), with

289

PLANT POPULATION A N D CROP YIELD

little more justification, extrapolated the same data using the Mitscherlich

equation he obtained substantially different values.

2. Exponential Equations

Duncan ( I 958), when reviewing experimental data on maize, proposed

an exponential equation to describe the relationship between grain yield

and density. He derived this by fitting a linear regression of the logarithm

of yield per plant on density. The basic relationship was therefore:

log w

= log

+ bp

K

(3)

or

y = p K 10bp

where K is a constant and 6, negative, is the slope of the regression line

(see Fig. 5A). Carmer and Jackobs (1965) used this equation in a

slightly different but analogous form:

where A and K are constants. The yieldldensity curve which this type of

equation produces is comparable to the polynomials in as much as yield

must rise to a maximum value and then decrease at higher densities. It

can give a good fit to parabolic yield/density data, but even though it is

much more flexible than the polynomials at high densities, it still cannot

give a useful practical fit to data that are asymptotic. This is illustrated in

Fig. 5 , where it is fitted to some parabolic maize data of Lang et al. ( 1956)

and some asymptotic rape data of Holliday ( 1960a).

Apart from greater flexibility, this exponential equation has further

advantages over the polynomials. At high densities the yield curve does

not cut the density axis but, more realistically, only gradually approaches

it. Also, this curve now passes through the origin. However, as pointed

out by Duncan there may still be a defect at low densities for, as estrapolation of the regression line in Fig. 5A indicates, the equation cannot

allow for a leveling off in yield per plant at densities too low for competition to occur. But this is a common defect of yield/density equations, and

it is discussed later when considering Holliday’s reciprocal equations

(Section 11, B, 5 , b).

Duncan also pointed out that, since his equation was based on a linear

regression, it was possible to construct the whole yield/density curve

from the yields at only two densities. He therefore suggested that in the

maize crop the examination of factors that interacted with density might

usefully be carried out at two densities; the use of his equation would

then allow comparison of the factors at their calculated points of optimum

density and maximum yield. This technique can, of course, be used with

any yield/density equation derived from some linear regression on

density, and its practical potential makes it of considerable interest. Its

application calls for some caution, however, for a prerequisite for its use

must be a reasonable assurance that the equation used is an accurate description of the particular yield/density relationship that is under study.

Duncan’s justification for suggesting its use in the maize crop was the fact

that his equation gave a good practical fit to the data he reviewed. This

seems reasonable, but in general a better justification would seem to be

the knowledge that an equation used in this way had a good deal of biological validity and was not just an empirical one. This could be particularly important, because it was pointed out by Duncan that the farther

apart the two densities, the more accurately the regression line would be

determined. While this may be mathematically sound, it would seem safer

in practice to include a third intermediate density so that the point of

calculated maximum yield is not too far from an experimental treatment.

3 . Mitscherlich Equation

Mitscherlich proposed a law of physiological relations by which he

described the relationship between the yield of a plant and the supply of

an essential growth factor, all other factors being held constant. He

assumed that as the supply of such a factor increased, yield per plant

PLANT POPULATION A N D CROP YIELD

29 1

would approach a maximum value, and at any given point the response

would depend on how far the plant yield was below this maximum. This

can be expressed:

- --

dw

df

(W-w)c

where f is the level of supply of the factor and c is a constant. On integration this gives Eq. (4):

Mitscherlich termed c his “Wirkungsfactor” and claimed that it was

constant for a given growth factor and independent of other conditions.

Later, Mitscherlich ( I9 19) suggested that his equation might be

applied more generally to the relationship between “space” and plant

growth and so serve as a yield/density equation. Thus, substituting space,

s, for the growth factor,f, Eq. (4) can be rewritten:

where K is now a general “space” constant or factor. It is evident from

the basic assumption about the nature of the plant’s response that this

yield/density equation describes an asymptotic situation, but not a parabolic one.

the yield/density data of Donald ( I95 I ) for subterranean clover, they

were able to define the asymptotic value of yield per plant, W. From this

value, and from mean yields per plant at the other densities, they calculated a range of K values (Table I). I t is apparent that the values decreased

with increase in the space available per plant and could not be regarded

as constant. Kira et a f . ( I 954) obtained similar changes in K values from

yield/density data for azuki bean (Phaseofuschrysanrhus), although the

trend was not so clear.

This change in the value of K could have interesting agronomic implications, for it may perhaps suggest that a change in density may not only

change the space available to a plant, but might also bring about some

change in the environment-for example, an effect on rooting depth.

However, as far as the practical use of the Mitscherlich equation is concerned, a change in K is clearly undesirable, and the value of this expression as a yield/density equation becomes questionable. Kira et al. ( 1954)

292

R. W . WILLEY AND S. B. HEATH

TABLE I

APPLIED

TO THE

MITSCHERLICH’S FORMULA

RESULTSOF AN EXPERIMENT

DONALD

(195 I)a

WITH SUBTERRANEAN CLOVER OF

61 days

from sowing

Density

(plants/sq. link)

0.25

1 .oo

5.95-5.93

15.9-1 6. I3

60.6-62.6

241-248

1247-1393

Dry weight

per plant

(g.1

K

15.6

15.5

15.6

15.8 (W) 14.2

0.154

13.9

0.563

10.6

1.66

I 3 I days

from sowing

Dry weight

per plant

(g.1

182 days

from sowing

K

528

562 (W) 386

0.0073

0.0178

364

0.02 13

153

0.0370

13

16

0.0430

Dry weight

per plant

(g.1

K

34,080 (W) 0.00020

2 1,280

0.0006 1

4,560

0.0009 1

2,020

0.00 106

0.001 17

600

160

0.00125

29

0.00123

“After Kira et al. (1954).

did in fact point out that they could stabilize K by arbitrarily reducing

the value of W, but in this event the equation must lose much of its biological foundation.

Despite these criticisms of the Mitscherlich equation, the basic concept of an asymptotic yield per plant is of considerable interest. This at

least provides a satisfactory theoretical description of the yield/density

curve at very low densities where there is no competition. As several

workers have pointed out (Duncan, 1958; Kira et al., 1954; Shinozaki

and Kira, 1956; Holliday, 1960a), yield/density curves are usually unable

to provide such a description and their validity at low densities is doubtful. It is also of interest that Goodall ( 1 960), examining some mangold

data, and Nelder (1963), commenting on some lucerne data of Jarvis

(1962), both found that the Mitscherlich equation could give as good a fit

as other equations. On the other hand, as would be expected from the

results of the examination of his K values by Kira et al. (1954), Donald

(195 1) did not obtain a good fit to his data using the Mitscherlich equation.